Slytherin
Slytherin is one of the four Houses at Hogwarts, and is traditionally home to students who exhibit such traits as cunning and ambition. Slytherins are also known for thinking before they act, (unlike Gryffindors) and for being generally sneaky. (i.e. When they break rules, they rarely get caught.) Founded by Salazar Slytherin, the house tends to contain pure-blood students, due to its founder's contempt for Muggle-born witches and wizards. Most Dark witches and wizards came from this House, most notoriously Lord Voldemort. Slytherin's head of house for Harry's first six years of school was Severus Snape; however, as he fled with the Death Eaters at the end of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, it is presumed that Potions teacher Horace Slughorn will become the head of Slytherin House. The Slytherin common room may be found in the dungeons of Hogwarts castle, and are located underneath the lake in the school grounds. The Sorting Hat claims that blood purity is a factor in selecting Slytherins. This suggests that it bases its decisions more upon the views of its members, than directly on any accurate test of blood. There is no reason to believe that muggle-born students are not sorted there, merely that pure-blooded students are more desirable to that house. There are definite examples of half-bloods in the house (Snape, Voldemort), and one notable example of a half-blood who was nearly sorted into the house (Harry Potter). The fact that Rowling intended to place a character named Mafalda, a half-blood who was the daughter of a Squib and a Muggle, in Slytherin, suggests that Rowling at least does not view the Slytherin House desire for blood-purity as particularly influential upon the Sorting Hat. Mafalda was intended to be a cousin of the Weasley children.http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/extrastuff_view.cfm?id=3. According to Albus Dumbledore, the qualities which "Slytherin prized in his hand-picked students" include "Parseltongue...resourcefulness...determination...a certain disregard for the rules": which Dumbledore notes are qualities possessed by Harry Potter. Contrary to the wishes of the other founders, Salazar Slytherin wanted a stricter policy of admittance—one limited to pure-blood students. The controversy this created apparently led to Salazar leaving the school and the Chamber of Secrets behind. A millennium later, the house's students are still considered affiliated with Salazar's reputed views although some half-bloods, most notably Voldemort and Snape, have been in Slytherin. "Pureblood" lineage is certainly one of Voldemort's public goals. It is often mentioned in the novels (especially in Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets) that most of the dark wizards were in Slytherin (though how many were from this house before Tom Marvolo Riddle began recruiting there is unstated: as his own House, it was certainly most easy for him to recruit there). However, good Slytherin wizards also exist: most notable in the canon is Horace Slughorn, a member of the House prior to the entry of Tom Riddle. Also, the allegiance of Severus Snape is toward Dumbledore. Cunning and ambition are easily turned towards ill purposes, but are not inherently negative; furthermore, daring, intelligence, and loyalty can as easily become negative. A reason Slytherins may not be thought of as the best kind of people is because they value their own lives more than the lives of others. When Harry is trying to run away, because he is afraid that his presence is putting his friends' lives in danger in Chapter 23 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Phineas Nigellus sees him and says, "We Slytherins are brave, yes, but not stupid. For instance, when given the choice, we will always choose to save our own necks." Rowling herself has defended Slytherins, claiming that while most Dark wizards are Slytherins, most Slytherins are not Dark, and smaller groups of Voldemort's supporters are aligned with other Houses. Slytherin, along with Gryffindor, is one of the best and most competitive houses at Quidditch and is often in the lead for the House Cup, having won six times in a row, prior to Harry Potter arriving at Hogwarts. List of known Slytherins *The Black family (with the exception of Sirius Black) *Miles Bletchley *Millicent Bulstrode *Vincent Crabbe *Marcus Flint *Gregory Goyle *Daphne Greengrass *Bellatrix Lestrange *Draco Malfoy *Lucius Malfoy *Narcissa Malfoy *Graham Montague *Theodore Nott *Pansy Parkinson *Adrian Pucey *Tom Riddle / Lord Voldemort *Horace Slughorn *Severus Snape *Andromeda Tonks *Cassius Warrington *Mafalda (The infamous Weasley cousin who was cut from the books was identified by J.K Rowling.) Translations of the name In many translations they have changed the name. *French: Serpentard *Norweigan: Smygard *Finnish: Luihuinen *Dutch: Zwadderich *Portuguese (Brazil): Sonserina *Czech: Zmijozel See also *Slytherin Quidditch Teams Category:Hogwarts